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I don't think anyone can really answer that at this point. I'm sure any mobile carriers in the area would have made upgrades to their towers since January, but a lot of the quality you receive is a factor of saturation on the towers. Maybe some of the Comic Con attendees can give their two cents, but we won't truly know until January 28, 2017.

Att here, my phone worked for the most part throughout the expo hall etc. however my tablet that's also LTE connected was almost impossible to download apps on when I went to play board games that required apps i.e. Xcom The Board Game. That might be the only issue you run into.

My AT&T service worked fine in the main expo hall during Alamo City Comic Con a couple months ago. I didn't really use my phone during panels in the upstairs rooms but I don't recall hearing anyone complain about service.

I work in HBGCC. There is now free WiFi in the public spaces of the center that is provided by the city, but this does NOT work in the exhibit halls or meeting rooms unless PAX decided to pay to offer it from SmartCity, or you decide to buy it yourself. Exhibitors, of course, must purchase connectivity through SmartCity, but I've heard that it's a little better working in the new space. It is nice to know you can reliably go out to the hallways to check messages though.

Cell phone service is primarily an issue due to number of people, the towers just can't handle it. This is not unique to PAX. Any time really large groups are in, it gets terrible. Annectdotaly, from what I've seen, AT&T customers have it the best, Verizon comes in second and Sprint a distant 3rd. Due to whatever priority protocols are used by the carriers, pretty much anything except the big 3 is hopeless. However all 3 will go in and out depending on where you are in the building .

AT&T user, my ability to text and make calls has been fine the last two years however my 4G LTE network speed inside the building was almost non-existent most of the time. As @AztdkMom said before me, when you have that many people trying to use their networks in such a small space there really is not much you can do. Maybe with the new space this year things might be better but I wouldn't count on it.

I work in HBGCC. There is now free WiFi in the public spaces of the center that is provided by the city, but this does NOT work in the exhibit halls or meeting rooms unless PAX decided to pay to offer it from SmartCity, or you decide to buy it yourself. Exhibitors, of course, must purchase connectivity through SmartCity, but I've heard that it's a little better working in the new space. It is nice to know you can reliably go out to the hallways to check messages though.

Cell phone service is primarily an issue due to number of people, the towers just can't handle it. This is not unique to PAX. Any time really large groups are in, it gets terrible. Annectdotaly, from what I've seen, AT&T customers have it the best, Verizon comes in second and Sprint a distant 3rd. Due to whatever priority protocols are used by the carriers, pretty much anything except the big 3 is hopeless. However all 3 will go in and out depending on where you are in the building .

You failed to acknowledge the existence of T-Mobile .

T-Mobile recently rolled out band 2 LTE (10x10 chunk) downtown, so 3-way carrier aggregation should definitely help with capacity and speeds. I don't foresee any issues with them.

I work in HBGCC. There is now free WiFi in the public spaces of the center that is provided by the city, but this does NOT work in the exhibit halls or meeting rooms unless PAX decided to pay to offer it from SmartCity, or you decide to buy it yourself. Exhibitors, of course, must purchase connectivity through SmartCity, but I've heard that it's a little better working in the new space. It is nice to know you can reliably go out to the hallways to check messages though.

Cell phone service is primarily an issue due to number of people, the towers just can't handle it. This is not unique to PAX. Any time really large groups are in, it gets terrible. Annectdotaly, from what I've seen, AT&T customers have it the best, Verizon comes in second and Sprint a distant 3rd. Due to whatever priority protocols are used by the carriers, pretty much anything except the big 3 is hopeless. However all 3 will go in and out depending on where you are in the building .

How much is the wifi through SmartCity? Is it something I can purchase before hand?

You can make calls, but for data, the lower floors of Henry B Gonzales are not kind to any carriers. TMobile I can confirm will NOT have data unless you're on the upper levels of the convention center. Service and Data I guess seem to be two different things here.

Yeah. Last year I would go outside the convention to the sidewalk and get a bunch of notifications. Answer them...and walk back in. Haha. Its good for people who take smoke breaks or need a bit of fresh air everyone once in a while.